THROUGH MY EYES - THE MAASAI MARA

November 22, 2024

NOVEMBER 2024

THROUGH MY EYES - THE MAASAI MARA

At home, be grateful. At work, be appreciative. Gratitude is a gift we give ourselves. Appreciation is a gift we give to others - Anonymous

So, this blog is an appreciation to Charles for the work he gave us in the Mara. I have indeed been blessed to have friends, colleagues and associates who have, since 1994 given me the opportunity to experience and enjoy the beautiful and yet very fragile Mara.

In this short article, I want to share with the readers some snippets and photos which I have taken during my several trips for work.

“Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.” Freya Stark

The flora and fauna aside, the beauty of Maasai Mara emanates from the rolling plains, blue skies, stunning sunrises and sunsets, the innumerable springs of water that eventually feed into the Mara River and its tributaries such as Talek River, Olar Orok and several others.

The culturally steeped local Maa peoples have done their best to preserve and guard this fragile environment. But several contrary forces including greedy politicians, so-called Conservation Organizations, fake NGO's from Europe and US etc hold the Mara at ransom - to be raped and 'milked' dry of all its resources for their ulterior and selfish needs!

From the first trip to Mara (in the early 90s) to the present day - I estimate that 95% of the animals have disappeared! Not less than 50% of the flora has also disappeared. All the migration routes outside the Game Reserve and the Conservancies are destroyed (largely due to encroachment by human activities, large ranches, wheat farms and fences erected by mostly the elite land owners (some locals and others from outside Narok County - but all well place and well known individuals).

Mara is dying!

Nothing short of a miracle will save it!

Amboseli is taking a similar route soon...... mark my words; generations to come will remember this!

If you have the opportunity - visit Mara and Amboseli soon. The 5% animals remaining will also disappear in the very near future! The flora is gone - replaced by wheat, maize, ranches - and everything else which is against environment conservation!

So, here goes ... enjoy ! ! !

VAST EXPANSES, ROLLING PLAINS & VISTAS TO BEHOLD!

Beautiful Blue Skies adorn the rolling plains housing hundreds of large and small animals.
Here, a herd of Topi with its young ones mingle with Zebra. This is Lion, Cheetah and Hyena territory and thus they are easy targets of predators with little space to escape. Thus, safety in numbers. Staying together in herds also means many more eyes looking around in different directions - to raise an alarm in good enough time!

NOTHING BEATS A MARA NIGHT: THE MOON & STARLIGHT. A CRACKLING FIRE. AN OWL HOOTING. BATS SWOOPING OVERHEAD. A DISTANT HYENA CRY

"The Fire was alight all night, crackling away as it kept the animals at bay".
The Mara is serene at night. Animals abound in the dark. Night birds and frogs croak away their mating songs. A ruffle of the bushes announces an unwary Jackal. The full moon shines its splendor onto the plains. A distant heehaw of Zebra signals a disturbed herd - maybe a prowler is nearby.
This fire was not just to keep the animals at bay but to also keep us warm from the chilly Easterly winds. We roast jacket potatoes and green corn onto the open flames. A bat swoops a little too uncomfortably near our huddle. , .

STUNNING HUES & SHADES OF A GLORIOUS SUNSET; THE CLOUDS CREATING A FOCUS AS IF BY CHOICE!

The Mara has some of the most stunning sunsets I've seen anywhere in the world.
Here, a sunset on our site with hues of yellows and orange. The air chills fast, forcing us to put on hoodies and extra layers of clothing. Sunset also announces the time for hippos and buffalo to start their forages into previously hot and dusty grazing land. Bats and Nightjars make swooping flights across the horizon. A cackle of Guinea Fowl perches onto a large Fig Tree. Hoping from the lower branches onto higher ones. The thinner branches provide safety - as large predators such as Leopards dare not step onto flimsy branches. Safety is found high above the ground. Sunset lasts less than 20 minutes and within that window of opportunity everything changes from a bustling wildlife sanctuary to a nocturnal hide and seek arena - survival for the fittest!

BY MORNING, ITS ONLY THE EMBERS REMAINING. DISTANT CHIRPING OF THE EARLY BIRDS SPEAR THROUGH THE TWILIGHT

The crashing of branches. And before I catch a proper view of it; a large greyish brownish hind of an angulate disappears into the Croton thicket. Maybe a hippo or a buffalo? Silence! The morning birds also halt their wake-up calls. Our fire has not quite died. The watchman feeds more twigs and branches into the fire to re-light it. It was useful! I pull my hoodie closer to my chest. It is chilly. Gopal is saying his prayers audibly. Dheeraj is preparing tea and a morning snack. I have to leave early for Nairobi. It was a restless night. Mosquitoes were plenty - but the coil had reduced their numbers and also left a distinct smoky scent onto all my clothing. Time for a shower. Cold water - the solar heater didn't get enough sunlight to warm the water enough. But I am soldier enough to bear the stinging cold shower - it jolts me fully awake. And I slowly get used to it. I will bask in the small fireplace once I've showered.

AN ENDANGERED GIANT: THE MAASAI GIRAFFE: GAZING RUEFULLY TOWARDS A DISAPPEARING LANDSCAPE

A lone Masai Giraffe stares ruefully towards the Oloololo Escarpment. This very social giant is endangered due to loss of habitat and encroachment by humans. Small herds remain but are dwindling in number due to poor reproduction caused largely by loss of habitat and feeding grounds. Giraffe feed mostly on specific Thorny Acacia and Myrrh trees of a minimum height - easy for their long necks to reach. Local herdsmen encroaching onto their feeding grounds also present competition for scarce grazing grounds. The pretext the local herdsmen use - "Mara belongs to us". Fences also present a hazard for these tall ungulates especially in the dark when the thin electric fences are hardly visible to trotting animals - who subsequently get entangled and electrocuted!

ANOTHER CRITICALLY ENDANGERED PREDATOR: IF DRASTIC STEPS ARE NOT TAKEN TO PROTECT THIS GUY, ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE WE SEE THE LAST OF HIM.

In the Mara, the Cheetah is critically endangered. So, what a pleasant surprise when we chanced upon 5 individuals of the same family. A female and her 4 almost fully grown cubs. And they were on the prowl - hunting!

The mother Cheetah kept looking back at her cubs; whether they were keeping up or not. Unfortunately, their sighting had already been announced in the radio communication gadgets of all tourist vehicles - so we were in company of another at least 6 different Land Cruisers - all of them jostling to get prime view of this rarity. No wonder the animal is critically endangered! Cheetahs have no space of their own, they are hounded by tourists. They have no space nor freedom to hunt in peace. Worse still, Cheetah are daytime hunters. They rely on short bursts of high speed to catch and bring down their prey - and this requires good light and during the day -- unfortunately the same time the tourists are also on prowl! So, the Cheetah cannot hunt; because once they are sighted by the tourists - then they are surrounded by Land Cruisers - so no hunting, no food and extinction is inevitable. There is even talk that the rangers whose job it is to protect these animals actually "sell rights to willing buyers" to prowl and follow and harangue these animals - the Cheetah in Mara is certainly doomed if something is not done yesterday!

THE KING. PREDATORS ARE HOUNDED BY TOURIST VEHICLES. NO LESS THAN 15 CRUISERS SURROUNDED THIS MALE LION. !

The King. Exercising his rights! This guy picked a shaded part of the road and literally blocked a lane without batting an eyelid! This was a solo male. Probably expelled from the pride by the Alpha male - which means staying a distance away from the pride. This also means he has to rely on himself to hunt for food, a more daunting task - since hunting is largely done by the females, who are faster and more agile. Males usually take part in hunting larger prey such as Buffalo or Elands or Elephant and rarely Hippo. So more likely than not, this male will have to scavenge for food from such sources as a Hyena or Cheetah hunt.

FROM EARLIER BEING PERMANENT RIVERS, MOST RIVERS ARE AT RISK OF BECOMING SEASONAL. THE TALEK RIVER IS ONE SUCH TRIBUTARY TO THE MARA RIVER. RECENT EL NINO RAINS REPLENISHED THE FLOW SAVING THE FRAGILE BIO-DIVERSITY FROM COLLAPSE

The Talek River. This is the largest tributary of Mara River. And remains a very popular site for lodges and resorts which dot the whole length until it pours into Mara River somewhere near Musiara. It is notorious for flooding and on many occasions has swept away entire lodges even as recently as 2023 (last year's El Nino Rains). Earlier this year the River swept away a brand new Reinforced Concrete Bridge which was an important link between Sekenani and Talek towns. Poor design, poor construction are some of the suspected reasons - I believe no proper investigation or audit was ever carried out - so dead, dusted and buried!

THE PREDOMINANT BLACK COTTON SOIL IS FERTILE. IF PROTECTED IT CAN SUPPORT THE ENVIRONMENT FOR MANY GENERATIONS TO COME.

An Acacia Seedling. Planted by Charles. He is solely responsible for planting thousands of trees within our site. The Mara environment is a very fragile one and rapidly degrading to a point of no return. If something drastic is not done soonest then there will be permanent irreparable damage. But on the flipside, the soils are very rich with nutrients and fertile. So, any seedling planted would germinate and quickly take root and strength. It is these small efforts that will make a difference. And this requires setting aside greed!

THE GENTLE GIANT STANDS SENTINEL AS HIS COLLEAGUE BENDS OVER TO DRINK FROM A MUDDY POOL CREATED IN AN ARTIFICIAL LAGGA

CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF POOR CROSSINGS HAVE RESULTED IN ONE OF POORESTS SHOWS OF THE MIGRATION. NOT ONLY WERE THE ANIMALS VERY FEW IN NUMBERS THIS YEAR, BUT THEIR STAY WAS VERY SHORT-LIVED ....